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enDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Justice League: Doomhttp://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-justice-league-doom
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wednesday, February 29, 2012 - 04:21</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wil Avitt</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-2186.jpg" alt="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" title="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Last year fans of comic books and cartoons based on comic books lost a great storyteller far too early with the untimely death of Dwayne McDuffie. This week, we have been given a gift: Justice League: Doom, Dwayne's last work.</p>
<p>Loosely based on the incredible Mark Waid storyline "Tower of Babel" from the JLA book, Justice League: Doom examines what would happen if Batman's secret contingency plans against his Justice League teammates were stolen and used against the JLA, and the fallout that comes with the other members of the League learning that Batman has such contingency plans to begin with. The title comes from the inclusion of the infamous Legion of Doom, who were not present in the original story. Other changes include Hal Jordan (voiced by Nathan Fillion) taking the Green Lantern role from Kyle Rayner (voiced by nobody, cuz he ain't in it) and Wally West being replaced by Barry Allen as The Flash (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, who voiced the Wally West version of the character in the Justice League series), as well as the inclusion of Cyborg, a long-time member of the Teen Titans. Incidentally, this is not Cyborg's first forray into the JLA, he was a member of the League way back in the Superfriends: Galactic Guardians television series.</p>
<p>I really don't want to speak ill of Dwayne McDuffie's last script, nor do I feel comfortable doing it. It isn't a bad movie, it's actually a very good movie, taken by itself. It was a stellar voice cast, as is always the case with anything cast by Andrea Romano. In fact, the only real problem I've ever had with a voice casting decision was Deidrich Bader as Batman. I mean, come on! Most of the cast are returning from either the Justice League series or some other previous DC Comics animated work (Tim Daly returns from Superman: TAS and Nathan Fillion returns from Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, for example). I did have one issue, though, as far as casting went: Michael Rosenbaum. I love Michael as an actor and I love Michael as Flash, but not as Barry Allen. Wally West seems tailored for Michael perfectly. In this film, though, I felt as though Michael was wasted. He played Barry a lot straighter than he played Wally, which is absolutely true to the characters, but because of that Michael seemed to lack the energy he had as Wally West. Although it absolutely sounded like Michael, it didn't feel like Michael, and the true Michael really is missed.</p>
<p>I didn't like the decisions to replace Wally and Kyle with Barry and Hal. I like Kyle as a GL and would love to see him really done right in a cartoon, which we either haven't gotten or have gotten just a taste of. My problems with replacing Wally with Barry really all stem from the criticisms of Michael Rosenbaum's performance above. Michael did a great job as Barry, but knowing it's Michael and he's not being the Michael we all know really is disappointing.</p>
<p>Justice League: Doom also suffers from not being anything we haven't seen before. We've seen the "what if" contingency stuff with the Cadmus arc in JLU, we've seen the League betrayed by one of their own in "Starcrossed" (I should point out that I'm on Batman's side here. I don't see his contingency plans as a betrayal, though he should have kept them better guarded to protect his friends from just this sort of thing) and we've seen the Legion of Doom/Injustice Gang stuff really done to death. And the story is changed quite a bit from the original, which is surprising for Bruce Timm and his DTVs. They usually try to stay fairly close to the original stories and I wish they'd done that here. Instead, Doom is as different from Babel as Superman/Doomsday was from the original Death storyline, and with Babel only being four issues long, they didn't have the restrictions, and therefore the excuse, they had with Superman/Doomsday.</p>
<p>Justice League: Doom isn't a bad movie. It's a very good movie, if you're not looking for anything fresh. It's very derivative of stuff the team had already done in JL and JLU, and that's mostly because Tower of Bable was one of Dwayne McDuffie's favorite stories and he kept trying to do it. If this time he had finally done a straight adaptation, though, it would have been better.</p>
<p>This review, as much as the movie I'm reviewing, is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Dwayne McDuffie. Thank you for all you've given us, your legacy will truly outlive us all.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/batman">Batman</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/green-lantern">Green Lantern</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/superman">Superman</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/justice-league">Justice League</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/justice-league-doom">Justice League: Doom</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/jla-tower-babel">JLA: Tower of Babel</a></li></ul></section>Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:21:21 +0000Wil Avitt5128 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Batman: Year Onehttp://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-batman-year-one
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Saturday, October 22, 2011 - 00:51</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wil Avitt</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-2186.jpg" alt="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" title="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Wow. To be honest, that pretty much sums it up. I'm sitting here writing this as the end credits are rolling, and I'm finding myself at a loss for all words except, wow. I'm so at a loss for words that I really don't even know how to begin this review. I'm at a loss for words, of course, because the movie was that good. Very seldom am I blown away by a movie, but blown away truly is an apt description of the feeling this movie left me with.</p>
<p>Batman: Year One is the latest in the Warner Premier/DC Universe line of direct-to-video PG-13 animated movies. They've all been good. I've never hated, or really even been disappointed by any of them. I've never been blown away by any of them either, until now. Frank Miller's Batman: Year One graphic novel was a milestone in the comic book industry, and it not only changed Batman, but also changed the comic book industry forever. It really was this arc, which was originally published as a four issue run in the main Batman title back in the 80's, that made comic book storytelling about the "graphic novel" format, as opposed to the single issue or occasional double issue storylines. Batman: Year One also brought a sophistication to comic book storytelling that, at the time, was unprecedented. Comic books are what they are today because of Frank Miller. Now, while this is a review of the movie based on the GN and not the GN itself, it is important to mention these things because the film, and it is a "film" not simply a "movie" and certainly not a "cartoon", really is the closest adaptation of a comic book story to an animated, or even live-action, film in... ever, really. Shot-for-shot, word-for-word, this IS Frank's Batman: Year One come to life. As is the usual intent of the DCU animated features, the original artwork, in this case illustrated by David Mazzucchelli, is evoked in the animation, but it seems to go a step further in this project. In All-Star Superman you can plainly see a Frank Quietly influence in the animation, but in Batman: Year One it really does look like Mazzucchelli's art moving and living and breathing right in front of you. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that they actually used the comic book panels as storyboards. </p>
<p>The character narration from the comic is kept, making the film have a very noir detective feel to it, which fits not only the Batman character but the story itself to a T. In fact, I'm very tempted to watch the film again in black and white, having turned the color down on my television, just to enhance the feel of the Bogartness of the movie. The voice acting is all superb. Usually I don't like the Batmans they use, apart from Kevin Conroy, because none of them (not Jeremy "Jesus" Sisto, not Bruce "Captain Pike" Greenwood and certainly not William Baldwin, who doesn't even deserve a cute nickname) can compare to the awesomeness Kevin Conroy brought to the role. Benjamin McKenzie does bring that same awesomeness and I truly hope this isn't the last we hear of him as the Dark Knight.</p>
<p>Nothing is held back in this adaptation. Everything you could hope to see from the comic book is brought to the screen. A prostitute Catwoman? Got that. Jim Gordon cheating on his wife and wrestling between loyalty and his own moral code and the new feelings he's developing for Officer Sarah Essen? Got that too. This is a very mature tale, and everything is put on the table. In fact, both in animation style and story content, this movie reminds me of the amazing Spawn animated series that ran for three 6 episode seasons on HBO back in the late 90's (without the gratuitous cartoon nudity and flagrant use of the F-bomb, of course). Bottom line is, Batman: Year One is a must-see animated movie event. Don't blow it off, thinking we've said everything we needed to say about Batman's origin in Batman Begins. While Chris Nolan's first outing in Gotham City is memorable, and derived heavily from the Year One GN, there's nothing like seeing Frank Miller's story brought to life in the way this movie does it. Batman: Year One is highly recommended by this blogger, and that ain't no bazinga. </p>
<p>As with all the DCU animated features, the extras on this disc are pretty good as well. We're treated to a featurette about how Denny O'Neil and later Frank Miller helped to bring Batman from the Adam West-style stories of the 60's to the Dark Knight we've come to appreciate and a panel with Denny O'neil, Dan DiDio and the current Batman writer, moderated by Michael Uslan. We also see the return of the DC Showcase animated shorts with the 15-minute "Catwoman" as well as two of Bruce Timm's Picks, "Catwalk" from Batman: TAS and "Cult of the Cat" from The New Batman Adventures. Best of all is a sneak peak at the next animated feature, Justice League: Doom, which was the last script written by the late, great Dwayne McDuffie. </p>
<p>Late next year will see the first ever DC Universe animated movie in two parts with the adaptation of another of Frank Miller's seminal works in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. My only hope is that they do it the justice they did to Year One. OK, I have two hopes. The other is that they also adapt Miller's All-Star Batman and Robin, The Boy Wonder, because unlike a lot of folks, I really enjoyed that story and it would be a perfect companion piece to the Year One movie.</p>
<p>Will Conservatives Like This Movie?</p>
<p>That depends on what kind of a conservative you are. If you're my Grandma you might think it's a bit too violent and racey for a "cartoon", but if you're open to an amazing story told amazingly, which I think most of us here are, then you'll like it just fine. While it IS very adult and mature, it is still rated PG-13 so nothing is over the top or gratuitous. Seriously, use the book as a litmus test. If you like the book, you'll like the movie. It really is just one step beyond a motion comic.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/batman">Batman</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dc-universe-animated-movies">DC Universe Animated Movies</a></li></ul></section>Sat, 22 Oct 2011 04:51:55 +0000Wil Avitt4865 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Paul (Unrated Version)http://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-paul-unrated-version
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Thursday, August 11, 2011 - 02:48</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wil Avitt</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-2186.jpg" alt="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" title="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>This review is about the unrated extended cut of Paul. Both this and the theatrical cuts were on the disc, but I wasn't planning on watching it twice so I picked this one. You should pick it too.</p>
<p>Paul is the latest opus from British comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead). It tells the story of two nerds from England on holiday from England to attend Comi-Con, where they meet their favorite comic writer, Adam Shadowchild (who struck me as being quite similar and possibly based on Marv Wolfman, who wasn't the most inviting person I've ever met at a convention) and travel the USA, visiting important UFO sites like Area 51 and Roswell, New Mexico. </p>
<p>Along the way they end up meeting Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), a three foot tall alien who is on the run from the government and is being pursued by a Secret Service agent (Jason Bateman). They end up kidnapping a young Jesus Freak woman who, with her redneck father, runs an RV park after she sees Paul and faints (which seems to be a common reaction to meeting Paul for the first time). Their mission is simple: get Paul to a rendezvous with a rescue ship before the government catches them and returns him to the top secret lab that has been his home for the past several years. </p>
<p>The film manages to stay consistently funny, making several nods to science fiction movies of the past. We learn that Paul gave Spielberg the idea for ET and Agent Zoil shoots the radio he was using to get orders from his unseen female commander and remarks, "Boring conversation anyway." Through the whole movie you get the feeling that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost really are very close to their comic book geek characters in real life, which brings a lot of legitimacy and sincerity to their performances. The technical aspects of the film (direction, cinematography, sound design, etc.) is all very solid as well. All in all, Paul is definitely worth a look especially if you'd like to laugh uncontrollably for two hours.</p>
<p>WILL CONSERVATIVES LIKE THIS MOVIE?</p>
<p>Hmmm... Well, that's kinda a tough one on this flick. This movie attacks religion A LOT. And what really annoyed me the most was not that they were attacking religion, but how. One of the themes of the film is that since Paul exists, then there is not God. OK, that's just ignorant because nowhere in the Bible does it say Earth is the only planet God put people on. I don't understand these one-world Christians, but this movie exploits them and uses them to bash all of us. It irritated me a bit. The movie also makes mucho use of profanity (if profanity is something you don't much care for, I would suggest the theatrical version). But if you can get past that, then yes, Paul is a very enjoyable movie for conservatives.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/simon-pegg">Simon Pegg</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/nick-frost">Nick Frost</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/paul">Paul</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/seth-rogen">Seth Rogen</a></li></ul></section>Thu, 11 Aug 2011 06:48:37 +0000Wil Avitt4684 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Sucker Punch (At Long Last!)http://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-sucker-punch-long-last
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sunday, July 3, 2011 - 23:18</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wil Avitt</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-2186.jpg" alt="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" title="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>First of all, I would like to apologize for the lateness of this review. I really tried to get to it in the theaters, but I had just gotten the job and it just didn't get got. In the future, if I miss a movie during its theatrical run I will get it on dvd, but I'm gonna try really hard not to do that.</p>
<p>OK, Sucker Punch is the follow up to Zack Snyder's Watchmen and the movie that will be the direct predecessor to Superman: The Man of Steel on the Zack Snyder resume. After seeing Sucker Punch, I'm not entirely sure how comfortable I am with Zack Snyder taking on the Man of Steel anymore. But we'll get to that later.</p>
<p>Sucker Punch begins with two little girls mourning over their just moments before deceased mother. The step-father, upon reading the mother's will, discovers the mother has left her entire estate to her two daughters and is enraged. He gets drunk and storms the eldest daughter's room and tries to rape her. She fights back and he knocks her to the floor and locks her in her room, deciding the younger daughter would be an easier victim. The eldest daughter climbs out her window and races back into the house, where she got a gun from her step-father's study. She tries to shoot the step-father but misses and kills her little sister instead. She then tries to kill her step-father again, but she can't pull the trigger. Lo and behold, it is off to the insane asylum for our heroine (no, not that kind!). And this is all done with no dialogue, set to the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams" (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof). </p>
<p>In the institute she is mistreated (which is also shown set to music) and eventually sent to be labotomised. Just as she is about to have a metal spike hammered into her brain through her eyeball, poof! She's in another world. A world where she is an orphan given by a priest to a brothel (wait, a brothel?) Yes, a brothel! From here she bounces to another fantasy world, fighting fighting a giant samurai before returning to her institute to plot an escape with the other hookers, um, I mean patients.</p>
<p>I'm not sure if I liked this movie or not. I was intrigued by it, for sure. But, I don't really know, it's just strange. I do know it isn't science fiction at all. It's fantasy. It all happens in this girl's head. At least, I think it does. I'm still not entirely sure what I saw, but I do know it kinda works. At least, when you're in that, "I want a movie that messes my mind up and makes me useless for the next three months" kind of a mood. Oh, you don't have those moods? Um, neither do I, I was just making an example...</p>
<p>Visually, Zack Snyder is up to par. The lighting, camera angles and production design is exactly what you would expect from a Zack Snyder movie, be it good or bad. Quality-wise, it doesn't have the coherent story structure of Watchmen, but it wasn't as boring as 300 either. And the music was fabulous. As a 2 hour music video it hits the mark. As a film, as I said, I'm still not sure what to think. I do know this much, it tends to rely too much on 12-year-old fantasies, and it leaves one wondering if Zack Snyder ever made it out of the sixth grade intellectually. I didn't hate it, and I would probably see it again, but I'm not going to race to Walmart to own this visually stunning mind-rape of a movie. Now the soundtack, that I may rush out to buy tomorrow!</p>
<p>Will Conservatives Like This Movie?</p>
<p>That depends greatly. The visuals and the music are all this film really has going for it (well that, and a really swift kick in the gonads at the end), and visually the movie tends to favor young girls either in skimpy catholic shool girl outfits, or in their underwear, which some conservatives may find untasteful. It's basically a 2 hour wet dream with great music. So tread carefully if any of that offends.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/watchmen">Watchmen</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/zack-snyder">Zack Snyder</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/sucker-punch">Sucker Punch</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/300">300</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/man-steel">Man of Steel</a></li></ul></section>Mon, 04 Jul 2011 03:18:58 +0000Wil Avitt4598 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Green Lantern: Emerald Knightshttp://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-green-lantern-emerald-knights
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - 08:45</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Wil Avitt</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-2186.jpg" alt="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" title="Wil Avitt&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Alright, so R3 and I had a conversation not too long ago that went a little something like this:</p>
<p>Sheldon: So, out of curiosity, do direct to video movies fall in my jurisdiction as official movie reviewer?</p>
<p>Republibot 3.0: Sure, why not.</p>
<p>And so it was written (literally, since it was over e-mail) so shall it be done. This is the first installment of my DVD MOVIE REVIEW section. I will, of course, review all of the DCU animated movies and if Marvel does anymore, I'll hit them too (I didn't do Thor: Tales of Asgard because, frankly, Thor isn't science fiction. We really only did the live action Thor because it ties into the Avengers, which IS science fiction). If anyone knows of any direct to video movies on the horizon, please let me know and I'll rent them and review them. I will also put any movies I miss in their theatrical run (which I'm really going to try not to do) here as well. Look for the Sucker Punch review when it hits dvd, for instance.</p>
<p>Alright, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is the DCU Animated Original Movie released on Tuesday to tie-in to the Green Lantern feature film coming out June 17th. It is very similar in format to the Batman: Gotham Knight animated movie (which was also a feature film tie-in for The Dark Knight) in that it is an anthology of several short subjects. It goes one better than Batman: Gotham Knight because it is actually a coherent story, which features several flashbacks. Batman: Gotham Knight was supposed to have some cohesion, but I didn't see it. This one really has cohesion, and I appreciate that.</p>
<p>The story begins on Oa, where the GLC has been summoned in preparation for an impending attack by Chrona, a renegade Guardian and refugee from the anti-matter universe of Qward. While waiting in line to charge their rings at the Central Power Battery (wait, don't they usually just all do it at once and recite the oath in one thunderous chorus?), Hal Jordan tells new recruit Arisia a brief history of the Green Lantern Corps.</p>
<p>Most of the stories are actually adaptations of stories which have appeared in GL comics throughout the years. The first story, the story of the first Green Lantern written by Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim (who wrote the screenplay for the feature), is original to the film, as is the wrap-around story of the attack by Chrona, written by Alan Burnett. Adapted stories include "Mogo Doesn't Socialize", which I've always thought was lame and the movie doesn't make it any better (but I think the Mogo idea is lame to begin with. I'm sure it's a perfectly good story) written by Dave Gibbons and based on an original story by Alan Moore and illustrated by Gibbons himself; "Kilowog" written by Peter Tomasi and adapted from his own story "New Blood" about the training of Kilowog as a recruit (and Tomar Re as well) by former Drill Sergeant Deegan; "Abin Sur" by Geoff Johns and based on his own short story "Tygers"; and finally "Laira" written by Eddie Berganza and based on the story "What Price Honor?" originally written by Ruben Diaz.</p>
<p>On a whole, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is a fun watch. It isn't on the same level as Green Lantern: First Flight, but it's good and very insightful into the GL mythology. If you happen to be a newbie and want to know more about the GLC before going into the feature film, this is definitely a must-see. If you're a veteran ring-slinger, as I am, this will feed your GL hunger quite nicely as well. I will say that, although I love Nathan Fillion, I did miss Christopher Meloni's Hal Jordan from First Flight and I didn't much care for Henry Rollins as Kilowog. He's been very good as Mad Stan on Batman Beyond, but his voice just doesn't fit the Kilowog character. Personally, my favorite Kilowog is Dennis Haysbert (Pedro Cerrano from Major League), who voiced the character on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Other than that, all of the other voices were well cast with strong actors. So pick up Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, you won't be disappointed, and be back here in two weeks for my review of the Green Lantern feature film.</p>
<p>What's Next?</p>
<p>As with all DCU Animated Original Movies, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights features a sneek peak of the next film in the series, the highly anticipated Batman: Year One! With the exception of Batman, all of the voices sound pretty good. Every Batman who isn't Kevin Conroy is going to be an epic fail to me, and it isn't Conroy in this movie. Bruce Greenwood did a good job in Batman: Under the Red Hood, but he still wasn't Batman to me. But Year One looks great so far, so be on the look out. The preview said "Summer 2011", but I think that's a mistake. It will probably be more like in the fall, although no specific street date has been set yet.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/green-lantern">Green Lantern</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dcu-animated-original-movies">DCU Animated Original Movies</a></li></ul></section>Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:45:10 +0000Wil Avitt4536 at http://www.republibot.comMOVIE REVIEWS: “Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)http://www.republibot.com/content/movie-reviews-%E2%80%9Cgreen-lantern-first-flight-2009
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sunday, January 17, 2010 - 08:10</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">sysadmin 2.0</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-1.jpg" alt="sysadmin 2.0&#039;s picture" title="sysadmin 2.0&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Green Lantern: First Flight</p>
<p>The DC Comics direct to DVD animated spectaculars continue with the origin of Green Lantern. "Wait!" you say, "Didn't we just see the origin of Green Lantern two movies ago in 'Justice League:The New Frontier'"? Well, yes we did. And no we didn't....</p>
<p>(I'm going to try to make this as 'Spoiler Light' as possible, so I'm going to gloss a bit over the traditional Republibot Play by Play)</p>
<p>There are still spoilers, but I try to keep the particulars obscured...</p>
<p>PLAY BY PLAY (sortof):<br />
Before the credits- Hal Jordan is 'flying' a simulator, with Carol Ferris in the control room. We learn that Hal is, well, Hal. Cocky, self assured, glib. We cut away to an alien crash landing in the desert and telling his ring "Find him". Back at Ferris Aerospace (or whatever it's calling itself these days), the simulator is ripped out of its moorings and sent skyward. Hal arrives at the spaceship's crash site and receives the ring from the dying Abin Sur, who tells Hal that he is now a Green Lantern, that he's a space cop and that the Guardians will send for him, and then promptly dies. The spaceship explodes, destroying all evidence of Abin Sur's existence (well, except for the smoking crater...) and Hal finds himself soaring above the desert.</p>
<p>Roll Opening Credits...</p>
<p>Gee! That was fast, efficient and to the point. In about two minutes, we get the complete concept and origin of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern. No navel gazing, no 'I had to kill someone in Korea/Vietnam/Desert Storm' nonsense. When the opening credits fade out, the story could go anywhere.</p>
<p>Quickly-<br />
A team of Senior Green Lanterns are dispatched to find Abin Sur's body and recover the ring. Unfortunately for them, it appears that Jordan is attached to it. After a scuffle, they take Jordan to OA to meet the Guardians. After insulting the human race (apparently we smell bad in addition to all of our other faults...), they grudgingly allow Hal to be a probationary Green Lantern, under the training of a senior Lantern.</p>
<p>The Senior Lantern takes Hal to find Abin Sur's killer, using very questionable interrogation tactics and (in Hal's opinion) excessive force. Hal manages to subdue the alien gangster without the Senior's help, and in doing so incurs his wrath. It is abundantly clear that the Senior Lantern is disgruntled with the Guardians and with his place in the universe.</p>
<p>While Hal is picking at his food in the Green Lantern Commissary, another Senior Lantern explains to him why everyone is so on edge. It turns out that a power source that could destroy the Lanterns has been stolen from the Guardians. They are a bit uptight because of this. Hal is saved from the commissary food by a call to action- They think they've located the thief at a starport.</p>
<p>At the Starport, Hal is given scrub duty... which quickly turns into something more significant. He finds the fleeing gang of 'bugs' that were responsible for the power source theft. After a battle, a chase through Babylon 5-ish hyperspace. Hal begins to show his brilliance as a pilot by doing things that other Lanterns don't think of and he quickly boards the fleeing Bug ship, defeats Bug in Armored Suit and then confronts the Head Bug. The Head Bug knocks Hal out and we discover that there is a traitor among the Senior Lanterns- who instead of interrogating the Head Bug, blows a hole through him.</p>
<p>Next thing we know, Hal is brought up on charges. The Senior Lantern who has been training him defends Hal's actions, but the Guardians strip Hal of his ring anyway, and send him to the brig. He's visited in the brig by two Senior Lanterns, who tell him that they admire him, but they are to be his 'ride home'. Hal points up some inconsistencies, and they decide to delay that ride home. Instead, they do some snooping, and find the traitorous Senior Lantern interrogating the Head Bug's dead body. Treason is apparently contagious, and we find another Senior Lantern is in league with the bad guys. A battle ensues, that Hal barely survives and one of the traitors doesn't.</p>
<p>While this is going on, the primary treasonous Senior Lantern visits the aliens who are crafting a weapon from the stolen power source. The senior gets the weapon, and a costume change, and heads back to OA to wreak chaos in order to create order. (See, R3- it's the BAD GUY who wants to tear things down to make a new order!)</p>
<p>Hal is exonerated, but not given his ring back- he ends up getting it in the midst of the battle's chaos. The Traitor succeeds in disabling the central power battery, causing Lanterns to literally fall out of the sky. Hal makes his way to the power battery, giving himself a super-dose of power, just as a rain of Green Lantern rings fall from the sky- the rings of all those who were in space and died because their rings were depowered. Hal flies into battle with the doomsday-ish weapon and the Traitor and prevails...<br />
... and the corps is saved.</p>
<p>Observations-<br />
Okay. First and foremost- this is labeled PG-13 for a reason. I was watching it with Republibot 2.3, and five minutes into it, he asks, "Dad, this movie isn't for kids, is it?"</p>
<p>No. It's not for kids. Believe the rating, folks. There's harsh language, violence, blood, gore and death.</p>
<p>That said, the filmmakers set out to make a gritty cop movie set in space- and in this, they succeed in spades. I've seen this movie compared to "Training Day". I can't speak to the comparison, I've not seen "Training Day", but if it's about corrupt cops thinking that they are justified in their corruption... then yes. It's that.</p>
<p>The character's development through all of this follow logical lines and arcs. I was very impressed with Jordan's growth and with the fall of the Senior Lantern. Other characters were sketchy, but fairly rounded. Although it almost smacks of stunt casting, I thought that Christopher Meloni's Hal Jordan was very well voiced. (For those who aren't familiar with Meloni, he plays a cop on Law and Order:SVU.) So they get a well known cop actor to voice a space cop- and it works. Meloni's acting grounds Hal Jordan, so that he's very identifiable. Likewise, the other actors do a great job. Even though he's not given nearly enough to do, Michael Madsen voices Kilowog with perfection, and Tricia Helfer does a nice job with Boodikka.</p>
<p>Now, because I took great pains to avoid spoilerish details in the above Play-by-Play, you may think that a)I'm ignorant of Green Lantern lore b)There isn't much Green Lantern lore in this movie. </p>
<p>You'd be oh-so-wrong on both counts.<br />
We have all SORTs of Lanterns running through this:Tomar Re, Arisa, Kilowog, Ch'p ("Dad? Why is there a flying squirrel Green Lantern?"--R2.3).. in fact, the only Lantern that I didn't see was Mogo. But we all know that Mogo Doesn't Socialize. I even think I saw F# Bell (for those who don't know, F# Bell is a blind Green Lantern, who instead of perceiving his ring as a light, 'sees' it as a source of sound.)</p>
<p>And here lies one of the TINY nits I have to pick with the movie. Almost every alien Lantern that we know is seen in this movie, if you can recognize them through the redesign process. Abin Sur and Kilowog got quite the makeover. They are still (mostly) recognizable, but others...? The character design and animation seems to have been crafted in an almost Aeon Flux style, and although it's sort of cool, it's hard to find Easter Eggs when they don't look like themselves. Getting a major redesign are the Weaponers, who are now distinctly alien and rather frightening in their alienness. I have to give the production team some applause on this, these creatures are completely inscrutable and distinctly Alien. The reshaping of the traditional Green Lantern costumes into a sort of body armor makes sense, but is a little jarring at first. This is a cop movie, and cops wear vests. It makes sense.</p>
<p>There are some fanboyish quibbles that honestly, don't matter and would've impeded the story's flow (No, Comic Book Guy, it does NOT matter that the Green Lanterns don't have their portable power batteries....). All the essentials are here.</p>
<p>And it's good.</p>
<p>Will Conservatives like this movie? With the above caveats about language and violence, yes. And they should, for reasons that I'll detail tomorrow.</p>
<p>So I recommend it highly- but don't watch it with the crumb crunchers.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/green-lantern">Green Lantern</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/animation">Animation</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dcau">DCAU</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/direct-dvd">Direct to DVD</a></li></ul></section>Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:10:20 +0000sysadmin 2.0856 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: Battlestar Galactica: “The Plan” (2009)http://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-battlestar-galactica-%E2%80%9C-plan%E2%80%9D-2009
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Sunday, January 10, 2010 - 02:00</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Republibot 3.0</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-3.jpg" alt="Republibot 3.0&#039;s picture" title="Republibot 3.0&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>If you’ve ever wondered why it is that I always end up with the short straw around here, and end up reviewing the RDM Galactica, a show I’ve loved and been betrayed by, well, so have I. It’s not particularly germane to the review itself, but as this is probably my last opportunity to explain, the bottom line is this: As an 11 year old, I was obsessive about the original Galactica. I dreaded the remake, and hated the pilot for reasons that I still think are valid. Our Own Republibot 2.0, however, raved about the series every week during its first season, and cajoled me to watch it. I hated it, but to its credit, I hated it a bit less every week, and by “Kobol’s Last Gleaming, part 1” I loved the show. I was as obsessive about it as I was about the original up through the middle of Season 3, when, as most people will agree, the show began to drift creatively. Of course by then, I was invested in it, and followed it dutifully through the next 30 to 35 episodes (shown randomly over seemingly a decade of airtime), even though it was apparent they were putting less and less in to it, and I was getting less and less out of it.</p>
<p>Still, I soldiered on: They had a plan, they’d redeem themselves. I’ve seen this happen before: Babylon 5 seriously lost its footing in Season 5, but did manage to pull itself out in the end, even if it took half a year to get there. BSG would do likewise, right? Right? And Krusty’s gonna’ come and smite our enemies, right? Right? Right, Lise?</p>
<p>Well, it turns out that my faith was misplaced, and all that “God” stuff (Which was kind of fascinating in the early stages) ended up being just the grandest Deus Ex Machina ending in the long and completely inglorious history of television. But of course by then I was stuck reviewing the show because of my raving love for it during it’s middle sequence, and because my fellow Republibots refused to do it. </p>
<p>In the end, however, I don’t blame society: I blame R2. </p>
<p>Again, that’s got nothing to do with the review itself, but I thank you for letting me vent. Now, on to the matter at hand:</p>
<p>PLAY BY PLAY</p>
<p>We start out with The Brothers Cavil (Played by Dean Stockwell and Dean Stockwell) about to get executed via a Galactica Launch Tube ( “Lay Down Your Burdens, Part 2” the Season 2 Finale). We then flash back to Caprica, ten months earlier, a few days before the fall. The Cavils are plotting the final attack, and reveal that they’re doing all this because (A) Humans are a threat and even if they weren’t, Cavil just hates ‘em, and (B) Cavil wants an apology from his creators, the Final Five. He’s stranded them sans their real memories in various places on the Colonies so that they might learn of our depravity, and once they’re destroyed, they’ll repent of their love of humanity, and admit Cavil was right all along. One Cavil decides to head back to the Colonies to talk to Ellen Tigh in the moments leading up to the end. We also see the infamous scene of #6 and Baltar in the Riverwalk district of Caprica Caprica, and when he leaves and she says to someone “It’s about time you got here,” we *finally* see who she’s talking to. No huge surprise, it’s a Cavil. </p>
<p>We get brief shots of the Final Five going about their sleeper-lives, Ellen at a stripper club on Picon (Does she own it? Does she work there? Is she a hooker? Is she just the creepy middle-aged swinger she appears to be? What?), Tory Foster yacking on a cellphone driving to work, and Sam Anders in the mountains on “High Altitude Training” with the Caprica City Buccaneers. There’s a “Simon” with him. The attack comes and fails to kill any of ‘em.</p>
<p>Rescue Raptors start showing up: Cavil and Ellen get on one, Tory gets on another. Evidently these make it back to the Galactica, though how is never explained, and these are clearly not FROM the Galactica in the first place. We see some higgledy piggaldy in various location - on Scorpia, a Simon is fleeing carrying a small girl, a Six - “Shelly Godfrey” - is on a passenger liner, etc. There’s also a Hispanic lady named O’Neil who manages to make it to the fleet, seeking her husband and daughter. </p>
<p>We jump ahead to the events of “33”, when the models in the fleet meet in secret in the Galactica’s chapel, and discuss ways to disable said fleet until their brothers get there. Galactica Cavil reveals that there’s a sleeper on board, there’s a 6 who’s a hooker, and of course the “Shelly Godfrey” 6. Leoben is told to hack in to military communications so Cavil can get some intel. We get some stock footage of Lucy Lawless, but she’s not actually in the story. There’s a really funny scene involving the #5 or "Aaron Doral" model who reveals that he’s just terrible with even the concept of infiltration. (“Well, [the other one of me’s] jacket was burgundy, and this one is teal”). Sensing he’s useless, Cavil tells him to become a human bomb. (“They call it a ‘suicide vest’ but I think that undersells all the murder that goes along with it.”)</p>
<p>We weave in a somewhat perfunctory fashion in and out of the episodes of the first season, seeing all these characters do what it is we already know they did, but with a bit more backstory. For a while, it’s fun seeing Cavil giving them their marching orders, and having minor, forgotten mysteries (such as the “Disappearance” of Shelly Godfrey) explained, and yet it goes on too long, eventually. We see Leoben’s obsession with Kara start, too. </p>
<p>We get a bit more originality on Caprica, with Anders becoming the reluctant leader of a band of freedom fighters, and actually having some unexpected success. Eventually, another Brother Cavil infiltrates his group, at first intent on killing everyone, but then more and more interested to see what Anders will do. Simon grows increasingly annoyed by this, but it’s sort of fun seeing their early, semi-disastrous hit-and-run attacks, and their shock at realizing Cylons now look like humans.</p>
<p>There’s some neat character moments between Anders and Caprica Cavil as they bond. At first, Cavil is simply hoping to get something like an apology for humanity from Anders, but Anders is too meat-and-potatoes for philosophical discussions, and whenever Cavil lobs off an esoteric observation (“I don’t believe this is a punishment from the gods, but perhaps the Cylons have replaced the gods?”), Sam seems a bit confused by it, and fires back with something like “Wow, that’s trippy.” And yet, over the course of the movie, something changes between them. In the end, Caprica Cavil hears Ander’s confession - what’s eating him up is his own feelings of inadequacy - and then tries to turn it around. In the end, there’s a very well played, quiet moment where Cavil asks Anders if he can ever forgive the Cylons for what they’ve done, and although he’s not entirely aware he’s doing it at the time, it’s a really neat moment of Priest asking absolution from a penitent. </p>
<p>Very cool. Probably the kind of thing that plays better if you're Catholic, but still very cool. </p>
<p>Also cool, but less effective, is the relationship between Cavil and Sharon. He can turn her ‘sleeper’ programming off at will, which he does several times to give her new orders. She resists in both personas from the outset, though this does give us some neat moments immediately prior to the start of “Water” that work well, it goes on too long, and ultimately squanders most of its potential. The early scenes of this arc are good, though. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, back in the Fleet, the pretty Hispanic lady has met up with Simon, her husband. Cavil comes a’courtin’, and threatens to out Simon or kill his family if he doesn’t play along. We get an entirely gratuitous sex scene as a precursor to Simon killing himself, rather than harm his wife and adopted daughter. Cavil turns to sex with Prostitute 6 and booze to calm his annoyance that all his plans keep going awry. Eventually, Starbuck’s return outs the now-dead Simon as a skin job, and this devastates the pretty, occasionally naked Hispanic lady. She’s the one that puts the idea of swan-diving off the upper decks of the hangar bay into Chief Tyrol's mind. Ultimately he seeks counseling from the very same Cavil who’s been orchestrating the various Cylons in the fleet. </p>
<p>There’s also a subplot of a kid who keeps hanging around Cavil, until Cavil gets annoyed with him. </p>
<p>After Starbuck leads the rescue mission back to Caprica and Rescues Anders, both Cavils are outed, and Caprica Cavil gives their new message of truce. We then get a long, very well done split-screen conversation between the two of them discussing how their views have changed over time. Galactica Cavil’s time among the humans has made him hate them all the more, whereas Caprica Cavil’s time with Anders has made him grow to kind of grudgingly like them. There’s some funny, petulant moments between them (“I’m going to have you boxed!”) and then a moment of touching solidarity and fear before the end comes. We hear Cavil’s rant about how stupid a mortal body is, and how he wants to be a machine as their bodies drift through the fleet. </p>
<p>The End.</p>
<p>OBSERVATIONS</p>
<p>Did you ever see any of those awful Looney Tunes “Package” films from the '80s? You know the ones, like “The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie” ( <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082679/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082679/</a> ) or “Quackbusters” ( <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094939/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094939/</a> ) or “1001 Rabbit Tales” ( <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083701/">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083701/</a> ) or one of the half dozen or so other examples? If you’ve seen them, you’ll instantly get what I’m talking about, but if you haven’t, then I’ll explain that a “Package” film is a movie that consists almost entirely of previously-released material - cartoons in this case - with only a little bit of new footage shoehorned in to serve as a way to tie them all together in to a sloppy semblance of a narrative, and segue from one unrelated short to the next. It’s a low and cheap (literally) trick to play on the gullible, most of whom think they’re getting a new movie from their childhood heroes, but instead they just get the same crap they’ve been watching on the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show for a generation, plus some poorly-animated interstitial crap. It’s sort of a way for studios to amortize their decades-old investments. Warners wasn’t the only studio to strip mine their soul this way, but they’re probably the most obvious about it. </p>
<p>“The Plan” is basically like that, only live action instead of a cartoon.</p>
<p>Am I being too critical here? No, I don’t think so because I said some nice things about it above, and I’ll say some nice things about it below, but regardless of how good some individual scenes may have played out, no matter how much fun it is to watch Dean Stockwell chew the scenery, there’s no real ‘inspiration’ to any of the proceedings, and ultimately it just comes across as an attempt to milk the gullible one last time off of their devotion to a dead show. I don’t want to give the impression that there’s nothing worthwhile in here, and I may be putting to fine a point on it, but the bottom line is that this is a live-action “Package” film: It’s just shy of two hours long, and only about 70% of that is “New” footage.</p>
<p>Thus the biggest problem this project has to overcome is its inherently low-art nature. There’s nothing lower than a “Package Film” this side of fan films. </p>
<p>(Curiously, this isn't even the first Galactica Package Film. When the original show got cancelled in 1979, there weren't enough episodes to syndicate it and make back the studio's money, so they ended up editing the standalone episodes together as "Movies" that were aired on UHF channels for the next several years. Man, I'd love to see those again! Clearly, "All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again" is more true than the producers realized.)</p>
<p>The second biggest problem is the inherent limitations that weaving in and out of the plot present for telling a story. In any tale you’re attempting to shoehorn in to a pre-existing, and completed story, you’ve got two options: (A) Tell a new story we knew nothing about, or (B) Tell us a story we already know, but in more detail. Both have their problems. Babylon 5 made a TV movie called “Thirdspace” that is set solidly in the middle of the fourth season of the show, which tells us a new story, sort of wedged in between the end of the Shadow War and the start of the War With Earth. It’s a big story, a sprawling story, a self-contained story with no consequences, and one that no one ever refers to again afterwards: In short, it’s a great big bastard of a “Why bother?” story. On the other hand, the Star Wars prequels elected to tell us a story that we pretty much knew or suspected already: Clone Wars, Emperor Takes Power, Vader Goes Bad, Democracy Destroyed, Kids Born And Put In Foster Care, oh yes, and at some point Someone Designs The Death Star And Builds It. The problem here, of course, is that they spend seven and a half hours of screen time telling us a story we pretty much already know from a couple of lines of offhand dialog in the original movies, and they don’t really add anything new or complex to justify the exercise. In the end, Episodes 1-3 likewise end up being one great big bastard of a “Why Bother?” story. </p>
<p>Seeing a theme developing here? Because you’re tied down by the confines of a very, very rigid series continuity, you don’t have a lot of freedom as to where you can go, though it can be done (“Fleet of Worlds” by Larry Niven was a fine example <a href="http://www.republibot.com/content/science-fiction-book-review-2-%E2%80%9Cfleet-worlds%E2%80%9D-larry-niven-and-edward-m-lerner-2007">http://www.republibot.com/content/science-fiction-book-review-2-%E2%80%9...</a> But then he went and blew it with the sequel, “Juggler of Worlds” <a href="http://www.republibot.com/content/book-review-%E2%80%9Cjuggler-worlds%E2%80%9D-larry-niven-and-edward-m-lerner-2008">http://www.republibot.com/content/book-review-%E2%80%9Cjuggler-worlds%E2...</a> ) but even so, there’s a lot of stuff you can do to cast stuff in a new light, add complexity, whatever. It’s a ludicrously difficult trick to try, however, and I’m not convinced the payoff is ever really worth it.</p>
<p>“The Plan” more or less attempts the Star Wars route, where we’re given more detail about stuff that we already knew or suspected, which brings us to problem three: Mostly they’re answering questions that no one cares about. Even at it’s admittedly great peak, Battlestar Galactica was subjecting itself to plot erosion at a breakneck pace, so there’s a plethora of dangling threads all over the place. There’s a number of things that I’d like more information about, frankly. I’d like to know more about the Old Days on Kobol “Where the gods and man lived side by side,” and what led to them getting cast out. I’d like to know a bit more about the pre-Cylon days of the colonies. I’d like to know why their technology is clearly so far below that of their Kobolian forbearers. I’d like to know if the deleted scenes about the One Jealous God who tried to usurp the others are relevant and were cut because they were too revealing, or simply too irrelevant. I have theories about all these things, but one likes to know for sure. </p>
<p>Something I didn’t really wonder about was “How did Shelly Godfrey disappear at the end of the episode ‘Six Degrees of Separation?’” Nor did I wonder exactly how Leoben Conoy’s obsession with Starbuck began. I didn’t feel the need to know more about Simon. Nor did I wonder “You know, of all the possible ways Chief Tyrol could have used to kill himself, why’d he decide to jump off the top of the flight deck?” I didn’t feel the need to know what Brother Cavil was doing when he wasn’t onscreen: I just assumed he was up to something nefarious yet ineffectual, and I was right. These are not questions keeping me awake at night, and while these are not the only things The Plan dwells on, it does spend an inordinate amount of time on minutia rather than tackling Big Questions, or even attempting to plant elements in the early story that will make the whole “Mitochondrial Eve” seem anything other than overtly stupid. </p>
<p>Thus most of this is a waste, really. </p>
<p>There are some nice moments. The scene between the Chief and the pretty, occasionally naked Hispanic lady is very nice, and the moment when he realized that Boomer *should* have been able to shoot and kill Adama, but deliberately wounded him instead was very well played. The growing relationship between Caprica Cavil and Anders is neat, as is the growing distance between Caprica Simon and Cavil. The divergent development between the Cavils is neat, too, though probably overly pat and not as complex as we’d expect at this late date in a show that was so renowned for fairly dense packed scripts. We get some nice scenes of Rick Worthy as various Simons in various stages of personal development. While I never really connected with this character, I always thought he had a nice presence when he was about, and his part in this movie confirms what I’d suspected to be true: the man was criminally underused in the series. </p>
<p>So it’s not a total wash. I’m not convinced that what we get out of it is worth the effort, though. There’s no hiding the fact that we’re scraping the crumbs out of the bottom of the Galactica Snax bag at this point, and somewhere along the line you have to realize there’s just nothing else in there, and throw it away. I pray God that this movie is that point, but I’m sure someone else will want to do more. Edward James Olmos has made it known that he wants to do more.</p>
<p>Speaking of Olmos: I like him. I’ve always liked his directorial efforts, which have a different sensibility to them most other episodes of the show, and he does as good as he can here with such an iron-walled, carved-in-stone, nearly pointless script like this one. To be honest - and this *is* a compliment - I don’t think anyone other than him could have pulled this off. While there’s problems galore, none of them are really his fault, and it only works as well as it does because he’s at the helm. If anyone else tried to pull this off, it’d be a complete disaster. As it is, he puts his considerable talents to considerable use, and manages a resounding ‘meh’, but again, I attribute that to the law of diminishing returns. It’s not his fault.</p>
<p>The fourth major problem this production has is that it’s cheaper than hell, and it looks it. This film has been in the can for quite some time, and was made after the series wrapped production; after some of the major sets had already been stripped and/or broken down. Thus, major locations are conspicuously absent: There’s no scenes of the Control Room, of Sickbay, of Adama’s Quarters, or a half-dozen other take-’em-for-granted locations that evidently no longer existed. Thus we get a lot of hallway scenes, a lot of sequences in the Galactica’s chapel (Cavil’s headquarters), a bathroom scene or two, but try as they might, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this is all pretty threadbare stuff. </p>
<p>Actually, to be more clear, there *are* scenes of some of these locations, but they’re all stock footage, culled from previous episodes. For instance, we see several scenes of the control room, but they’re all scenes we’ve seen before in previous episodes. We also get a few scenes that are shot ridiculously tightly on minimalistic partial sets, in an attempt to hide the fact that the larger set no longer exists. One of the better Hanger Bay scenes is one of these. Not only are they spending a lot of time and energy telling us a more-or-less unimportant story, but they’re also spending a lot of time and energy hiding how limited their shooting options were when they made this. It’s a rough way to run a railroad, that’s for sure. Such new sets as there are seem rather cheap and fluffy. Ander’s training camp, for instance, looks particularly “Power Rangers: Ninja Force.” </p>
<p>They also clearly couldn’t afford the full cast. Jamie Bamber and Katee Sackoff are conspicuously absent, as are Tamhoh Penikett and Allesandro Jullianai and the lovely Kandyse McClure and Luciana Carro and Bodie Olmos and all the other prominent also-rans. (Really? They couldn’t find a way to get Bodie in this? He’s the director’s son, fer gosh sakes!). Most of these characters appear in the form of stock footage, of course, but no new scenes with them. Mary McDonnell doesn’t appear in any form whatsoever, which makes me wonder if she’s got a very good agent, or a very bad one. Lucy Lawless makes one or two brief appearances in stock footage, but is otherwise wholly absent.</p>
<p>Basically, we’ve got Cavil, Leoben, Simon, Aaron, Six and Eight, Anders, Tyrol, Tory, Tigh, and Ellen, Bill Adama, and that’s about it. And of these, a few are barely in it: Tory has three scenes, all in one lump, all trivial. Ellen makes a better showing, but easily shot all on one day, and mostly absent from the story. Tigh gets a couple scenes, which are good. Adama gets an appearance or two, but this is first and foremost the Cylon’s tale, so they can get away with the humans only making cameo appearances. </p>
<p>Continuity-wise, everything’s fine, everything’s golden. The only thing I noticed that didn’t track is that Adama’s hair tends to change length and greyness between some scenes, and of course The Chief's weight jumps up and down a lot between scenes. He is a lot stockier now than he was seven years ago (!) when they shot the pilot miniseries. That can’t be helped, though, so I’ll ignore it.</p>
<p>So there’s a lot of low cards in this particular hand, but they do make the best of it. </p>
<p>What’s surprising, then, is that so much of it works for as long as it does. Indeed, in the first act there’s a kind of giddy energy to watching the colonies fall - again - and seeing a somewhat broader picture of that. Some minor new elements are introduced: Evidently, a number of raptors from Caprica and other colonies managed to reach the Galactica before it left the system, something that’s never even been suggested before. </p>
<p>There’s a running gag involving a kid who’s dressed up just like the Dean Stockwell character from “The Boy With Green Hair” fifty years ago, and their interactions are…not exactly heartwarming. We do find out a bit more about the colonies - evidently they’re not all orbiting the same star as we’d previously assumed, but we’re told there are “Twelve battles around three stars.” We now know for a fact that the halves of the Cylon Base Ships can swivel independently about their axes, something that’s been suspected for a long time, but never explicitly seen. (Though there’s no explanation as to why they need to do this - it’s not like the trifoils turn in to some kind of big kill-o-zap gun when they line up or whatever). The Cylon M.I.R.V. technology is impressive. The scenes of the colonies attempting to mount a defense, and then having their Battlestars just fail was, y’know, eerie. </p>
<p>We also finally get to see some glimpses of the other colonies - finally! - and the orgy of destruction is much more widespread than we’ve ever been shown before. Though the colonies all show a somewhat independent sense of design - this one looks like Toronto, that one looks like Ottowa with a lot of domes - and they all explode real pretty-like, something about these scenes bugged me, so I re-watched them. Eventually I realized that the level, intensity, and color of light in all these CGIvilles is exactly the same, there’s no difference from the local star, nor from time of day. Even so, some of these scenes are kind of chilling, particularly Simon’s escape with a child.</p>
<p>There’s some interesting implications that are never really developed: The Cylons do appear to be specialized: Simon is always a medic, Cavil is always large and in charge, and so on. It’s implied that each of these is given over to running their own independent projects on the colonies - the Simons, for instance, are in charge of the farms - the Aaron Dorals are in charge of body disposal, and so on. It’s almost implied that the Final Five are assigned a Cylon for observation purposes, but it’s never really clear if this is intentional or accidental. </p>
<p>Speaking of Aaron, it’s interesting to see his demotion here. In the early episodes, he was the closest thing to an ‘authority’ amongst the revealed models. Here he’s played off as kind of a buffoon. </p>
<p>Grace Park grew in to a very good actress over the course of the show, and it’s interesting to see her revisit some of her earlier scenes. Likewise, Tricia Helfer is having a lot of fun here playing different iterations of the same character. There’s some stuff to like in these scenes, but it feels out of place.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of unexpected, and entirely-gratuitous nudity in the film that will be edited out when it hits SyFy. I like naked ladies as much as the rest of you - actually, probably quite a bit more than the rest of you - but it seems inappropriate to suddenly incorporate a whole bunch of nudity in to a franchise that’s heretofore come as close as it can to crossing that line without going over it. It’s not making a point, it’s distracting, and it’s not even going to make the final cut, so what the hell is the point? Beyond “I’ve got a five thousand bucks to blow, how many Canadian hookers can we rent for that?” Between this and the Caprica premier, it’s almost like the slogan for the franchise could be “Battlestar Galactica: Now With Boobies!” It’s also kind of annoying that all the naked chicks (And the few dudes) are generic background characters. You don’t get to see anyone naked that you’d really *want* to see. </p>
<p>We get no “Boxy,” nor any mention of what became of him, alas. That’s something I had wondered about. I know they have a lot of deleted sequences involving him. They certainly could have thrown one in, but, eh. It’s not a deal breaker. </p>
<p>The energy of the first act doesn't really last, however, and the film quickly gives way to languishing in boring sets while characters exposit as a means of introducing the next clip. Eventually it becomes obvious they’re just killing time. At 115 minutes, this thing feels way too long by at least a half hour, maybe more. By the last third, I was fast-forwarding through all the stock clips, and I wasn’t really missing anything. Presumably the Syfy cut will be much shorter, and just as the NBC cut of the Galactica pilot miniseries from three hours to two. As the two-hour cut was way, way better than the Sci Fi Channel version, so will the Syfy cut of The Plan be way, way better than the DVD version. </p>
<p>And of course it’s all a fool’s errand anyway. Remember years ago when we’d all sit around debating what the Cylon’s plan was? I’m sure you came up with some good ones. I did, too. The writers never bothered to, however. “The Plan” as revealed here was simply “Kill them all.” Arguably, a part of this plan could have been “Make the final five see the error of their ways while killing all humanity,” but that’s really just a refinement more than it is anything else. We get some slight redemption when Cavil realizes that ultimately he’s not at war with the humans per se, he’s at war with Love itself, but this is too little, too late, and, paradoxically, too early. If he realizes this at some point in season 2, then why the hell hasn’t he done anything about it by Season 4? He’s not stupid, after all. Psychotic, yeah, but not stupid. Hence the raison d’etra for the entire exercise - the attempt to retcon the nonexistent Cylon “Plan” in to something plausible - is a complete failure.</p>
<p>While fast forwarding through some long, boring interrogation scenes between Kara and Leoben, it occurred to me that it might be kind of fun to see all this new interstitial stuff edited in to the appropriate locations in the early episodes. I wouldn’t mind watching that, and it might actually help some of them out a bit, giving everything a much bigger wheels-within-wheels feel that Galactica occasionally threatened, but never delivered on, nor does it really do so here. Then it occurred to me that sure as shootin’, some obsessive fan is probably already doing it. (And please let me see when you’re done, ok?)</p>
<p>So how do I judge this? Well, earlier I compared it disparagingly to a fan film, and that’s not really far off the mark: We’ve got partial sets, a partial cast, a continuity-addled script only really suited for a very small subset of people who are both OCD and not very imaginative. (Like me!) Granted, it’s an official, licenced product, and professionally made, but if we’re honest here, “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan” is only slightly less of a fan film than “Star Trek: Phase Two: World and Time Enough” is. If it were an actual fan film, I’d probably give it an “A” for its extremely clever editing, good direction, neat CGI, and fairly clever central conceit. As a *real* film, however, I have to judge it by professional standards, and while it’s competently done, there’s just no inspiration here, and no passion, and hence, ultimately, no point.</p>
<p>I hope this is the last BSG film. It’s just a mass of continuity porn, and while it’s not amazingly unpleasant, it is amazingly ‘why bother?’ They had a chance to introduce something that would maybe cast the ending in a more sensible light, or at least in some way redeem the last season, and they never seem to have even thought of doing so. The failure of the imagination here is disappointing, since we’re not only being shown a lot of stuff that no one cares about anyway, but it is in no way changes our perspectives on the show we’ve already seen. It is an unmistakable case of what a lot of people call “Gilding the Lilly,” but in my neck of the woods, we call that sort of thing “Polishing a Turd.”</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/battlestar-galactica">Battlestar Galactica</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/canadian-hookers">Canadian hookers</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/movie-reviews">Movie reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li></ul></section>Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:00:55 +0000Republibot 3.01096 at http://www.republibot.comDVD MOVIE REVIEW: “Futurama; The Beast With A Billion Backs.” (2008)http://www.republibot.com/content/dvd-movie-review-%E2%80%9Cfuturama-beast-billion-backs%E2%80%9D-2008
<div class="field field-name-post-date field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - 08:00</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-author field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Republibot 3.0</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-ds-user-picture field-type-ds field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="image-style-none" src="http://www.republibot.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-3.jpg" alt="Republibot 3.0&#039;s picture" title="Republibot 3.0&#039;s picture" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>My review takes the form of an actual IM Transcript from the day after I saw it. Spoilers abound because no one ever watches the stuff I review anyway, and on a turd like this, I couldn’t give less of a damn if I tried. </p>
<p>Me says:<br />
I did not like the new Futurama "Movie" (The 2nd one)</p>
<p>Republibot 2.0 says:<br />
how bad was it?</p>
<p>Me says:<br />
Just not funny. Very scattershot and disjointed, compared to the previous one, which was brilliant. Kinda' repulsive, too.</p>
<p>Republibot 2.0 says:<br />
So, the concept out of steam, or just a poorly executed outing?</p>
<p>Me says:<br />
Dunno. Maybe just sophomore slump. It just doesn't work. The bad guy turns out to be essentially C'thulu from the Lovecraft mythos, but he's really lonely and wants the entire universe to be his girlfriend. Basically C'thulu and every sentient organic life form in the galaxy hook up, then the universe feels taken advantage of, then the universe and C'thulu start dating again, they kind of hit it off and shack up, and everyone lives in bliss and perfect contentment (which is mostly sexual) in heaven forever, though we're told everyone is really in love w/ C'thulu as well. Then Fry talks to another universe, and C'thulu gets jealous and dumps everyone in our universe over it. all of which roughly parallels Fry's ill-fated and brand-new polyandrous romance in the start of the movie.</p>
<p>Republibot 2.0 says:<br />
sigh</p>
<p>Me says:<br />
I dunno, it just doesn't work, it's not really funny, and frankly it's all got a pretty high 'ick' quality. Very disappointing after the last one.</p>
<p>Republibot 2.0 says:<br />
That's a concept that you can tell from the get-go that it's going to defy visualization and humor. In other words, it's gonna suck</p>
<p>Me says:<br />
Yeah, but not in a good way. This is a movie that anyone who’s reasonably conservative or reasonably religious should avoid. I’m nowhere near fanatical, and I actually *like* Lovecraft, but this movie actually made me mildly nauseous.</p>
</div></div></div><section class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above view-mode-fulltext"><h2 class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</h2><ul class="field-items"><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/reviews">Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item odd"><a href="/category/tags/dvd-movie-reviews">DVD Movie Reviews</a></li><li class="field-item even"><a href="/category/tags/futurama">Futurama</a></li></ul></section>Tue, 05 May 2009 12:00:34 +0000Republibot 3.0410 at http://www.republibot.com